Crafting my Life
These posts are from my Crafting my Life series, which discusses how I'm trying to dream big, find balance, and re-create my life.Bloggers are Real People
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! March’s theme is blogging. Last week I talked about blogging your dreams. This week, I’m talking about the literal community of bloggers.
I like to wax poetic about online community and how supportive it can be, and it is. But as much as we talk about the virtual support, [...]
Blogging Your Dreams
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! March’s theme is blogging. This week, I’m talking about blogging your dreams, and why that can be a really great thing.
My husband Jon started this blog in May, 2003, which means that it’s pretty old as far as blogs go. I have posted regularly here for over 6 [...]
When the Time Isn’t Right
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! February’s theme is time management. In the past few weeks I wrote about the nature of having no time, how I’m learning to seize the moment and how it’s hard to find time with small children underfoot. This week, I’m talking about recognizing when the time isn’t right. [...]
There’s No Time Like the Present
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! February’s theme is time management. Last week I talked about the nature of having no time. This week, I’m talking about seizing the moment and doing what needs to get done.
I ended last week’s post by saying that the only time that you really have is right now, [...]
On Having No Time
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! Today I am lamenting the fact that I have no time. Join me, won’t you?
Back in late August I talked about our culture’s Cult of Busy-ness. Money and status come with Important Responsibilities, and Important Responsibilities mean you’re busy. Having Too Much To Do is almost like a [...]
Re-evaluating Your Dreams and Desires
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! This month I’m writing about deciding what you want and going after it. Over the last few weeks I wrote about figuring out what you want, the practicalities of goal-setting and the value of asking for what you want. Today I’ll talk a little bit about re-evaluating your [...]
On Asking for What You Want
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! This month I’m writing about deciding what you want and going after it. Over the last two weeks I wrote about figuring out what you want and the practicalities of goal-setting. Today I’ll talk about asking for what you want.
But first, a little bit of music to put [...]
The Practicalities of Goal-Setting
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! This month I’m writing about deciding what you want and going after it. Last week I wrote about figuring out what you want. Today I’ll talk about setting goals based on what you’re going after.
Once you have some idea of what you want, the logical next step is [...]
Figuring Out What You Want
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! This month I’m writing about deciding what you want and going after it. Today, I’ll begin at the beginning.
The question of what you want seems easy enough. Any child can answer it, right? My 4-year-old certainly can. At any given moment she can tell you definitively what she [...]
The Next 10 Years
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! Today is the last day of 2009, which means that tomorrow will be a whole new decade. Today I am talking about what the last 10 years brought me, and looking forward to where I’d like to be when 2020 dawns.
(I know that technically decades start on the [...]
Crafting my Christmas
It’s Thursday, and I’m Crafting my Life! Or, more specifically, I’m Crafting my Christmas, since today is Christmas Eve and all. So grab some hot chocolate, turn up the Bing Crosby, and join me.
I am not very good at Christmas, I’ll put it right out there. I make far too many promises, to myself and [...]
Don’t Rain on my Parade
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! Today I am talking about warnings, and their value or lack thereof. I’m also talking about show tunes, because who doesn’t love a good show tune?
Last week I sat and watched Glee, because oh man do I ever love that show. I haven’t missed an episode yet, and [...]
Work at Home Mom
It’s Thursday, and I’m Crafting my Life! Today I’m talking about making the decision to work from home while also taking care of my children.
This week I gave up my 16-month-old’s toddler daycare spots. We put him on the daycare wait lists early, the first one when I was pregnant and then a couple more [...]
Stories We Tell Ourselves
It’s Thursday, and I’m Crafting my Life! This week I’m talking about the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. Maybe it’s something we heard when we were kids and took to heart. Or maybe it’s something that used to be true and isn’t anymore. Either way, sometimes these stories are just not helpful [...]
November Blahs
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life. Or, at least, I would be if I could motivate myself to do anything.
I have the worst case of the November blahs right now. November is a very dark, grey, rainy month here in Vancouver, and it wears on you after a while. I’ll take a little bit [...]
Self-Promotion Is No Fun
It’s Thursday, and so I’m Crafting my Life! Today I am talking about self-promotion. Which, honestly? Is not my idea of a good time. But it’s really important to understand it all the same.
I am a woman. I wasn’t exactly encouraged to get out there and toot my own horn. It’s a generalization, I know, [...]
Making Space for New Things
It’s Thursday and so I’m Crafting my Life! Today I am going to talk about the importance of making space in your life for new things.
I started my journey in re-creating my life when I was laid off. I think that it’s the same for many people – something big happens, and it acts as [...]
Crafting my Life Manifesto
It’s Thursday, and so I’m Crafting my Life! Last week I wrote about tribes, and how I’ve found mine. This week I am going to make a statement about what I stand for, and what I hope that my tribe stands for. Please understand, I am not looking to exclude anyone. I am sharing my [...]
Finding My Tribe
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! Today I am talking about something that is near and dear to my heart – finding my tribe.
I am a pleaser by nature. I think that many women are. I want people to like me, and sometimes I refrain from voicing my honest opinion for fear of what [...]
Money and Dreams
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! Today I’m talking about the financial planning and pitfalls that go into pursuing your dream.
I’ll admit right up front that I feel more than a little uncomfortable talking about money. It can be a touchy subject, after all. I’m concerned that I will somehow manage to offend every [...]
Simplicity and Climate Change
It’s Thursday so I’m Crafting my Life! It also happens to be Blog Action Day ‘09, and the topic is ‘Climate Change’, an issue near and dear to my heart. I think that crafting a life for myself and making environmentally sustainable choices are highly interrelated, and today I will explain exactly how.
We are inundated [...]
Time Management
A couple of weeks ago the fabulous Francesca requested that I write about managing my blogging and social networking. Here is what she said:
May I request a post on how exactly one fits twitter, blogging, etc in one’s day? (well, we know you have Bob to help you out, but still…)
As you know, I live [...]
The Pitfalls of Behaving
It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! Today I am sharing an essay I wrote for a contest this summer. It did not win, or even place, which is understandable because I think it wasn’t really the right fit. However, it’s taken me many weeks to even be able to open it again. I’m sharing [...]
Canadian Parental Leave and Multiples
It’s Thursday, so I’m Crafting my Life! Today I’m talking about possibly the biggest challenges any parent faces when trying to find balance, which occurs with multiple births. I have the utmost respect for parents of twins or more. I think that anyone who’s cared for one baby can appreciate how much work must go [...]
Crafting my Life
If you’ve been reading here for any length of time you know that I spent the better part of a year writing a series on maternity leave called ‘Mat Leave Monday‘. And then the series ended, because my maternity leave ended. However, I didn’t go back to work thanks to my lay-off in April.
This left [...]
Making Things
I read a post recently about ‘walking the grid‘. Walking the grid means keeping things simple and adopting a routine as a way of centering yourself. When you’ve failed or experienced a setback or are just plain out of whack you walk the grid. It takes you back to square one and helps you to [...]
Mondo Beyondo
What do you want? What do you really, really want? If you could have any life you chose, and live out your biggest dreams, what would it look like?
I haven’t asked myself these questions in 20 years. When I was 13 and full of adolescent angst I spent a lot of time contemplating my future [...]
Busy-ness
In our culture keeping busy is almost like our religion. You can speak a different language, go to a different church and vote for a different candidate and that’s OK. But you’d better not have too much free time on your hands, no sirree. That would mean you lack status and importance, because we all [...]
Stay at Home Mom
Six months ago exactly I wrote about what it was like to be at home on maternity leave. At the time I expected that, by now, Jacob would be starting daycare and I would be preparing for my return to work.
It hasn’t worked out that way. I am now officially unemployed. And I am not [...]
Going Part-Time
I returned to work reluctantly after my first maternity leave. My whole world had changed since I’d last set foot in the office a full year before. I had become a mom and I wasn’t even really the same person anymore.
I was lucky that my former employer offered family-friendly policies such as flex time and [...]
